Molecular relaxation in homeotropically aligned ferroelectric liquid crystals

Uniform and defect-free homeotropic (HMT) alignment of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLC) cells have been successfully achieved by a non-contact technique, namely, magnetic field-assisted alignment; otherwise such alignment is difficult by conventional methods. Frequency-temperature dependent dielectric studies, confirm the presence of stable molecular relaxation around the short axis of FLC molecule, throughout SmC*-SmA* phases with minimum low-frequency fluctuations, known as Goldstone modes. The proposed non-contact alignment method, combined with FLC-based HMT configuration, would be much promising for integrated-optoelectronic devices, such as micro-mirror displays.